Paper Stars
by Chushiki Maho
Summary: "I wish I was happy." A piece of tape was put on her jar, and written in the same, tiny neat handwriting was, "Mary's Wish Jar." Her doll moved the sit beside her, stitched smile wide. "Did it work Mary? Are you happy?" Mary stared at the ground; the broken glass, the dead bodies, her precious wishes scattered across the ground.


The first one was yellow.

A bright, pretty yellow origami star. It was tiny in the girl's hands, but firm, and so pretty to her. The man smiled. "Now Mary, do you know what that is?" he asked, his voice rough, yet gentle at the same time. The little girl shook her head in confusion. "What is it?" The man chuckled. "Its a paper star. You put it in a jar like this." he showed her a small fancy looking glass jar, which was still empty. "Its called a Jar Of Wishes."

The small girl dragged her finger lightly over the glass, eyes curious. "Why?" The man gestured towards the small star. "Unfold it." The girl did as she was told, and inside, in tiny, neat handwriting, the words, "I wish Mary would be happy." were scrawled. "That's my wish." he told her. "Now fold it back up, and we'll put it in the jar." She nodded and smiled, folding the star up using the creases, and promptly dropped it into jar. "Good job. Now, everyday, put a star in here with your wishes, Mary." he said. "Once this jar is full, one of your wishes will be granted." The girls eyes widened. "Wow! Really?" The man laughed and nodded. "Yeah."

The man proceeded to show the excited girl how to make them, and what was her wish?

_"I wish I was happy."_ A piece of tape was put on her jar, and written in the same, tiny neat handwriting was, "Mary's Wish Jar."

The man died shortly after that. Mary's jar only had 7 tiny stars, one yellow, and all the others pink and green.

Mary didn't know what death was. She simply waited. She waited for the man to come back. After her jar was at exactly 103 stars, (Mary prided herself on knowing exactly how many wishes she'd made), she was still waiting.

That's when she saw them. A quiet man, with a long, torn up looking coat, staring right at the door to her world. She had smiled from ear to ear. This meant he wanted to come play with her, right? He was looking directly into the doorway! Mary quickly let him in.

The other person was a girl. A young girl, just like her. A girl with crimson red eyes and straight, pretty hair. She stared at the painting, intrigued. Mary was delighted to have another visitor. The door opened instantly.

Mary was confused though. Where was her first guest? He still hadn't arrived in her room. There were so many games she wanted to play. Her blue doll, with his stitched gigantic grin, laughed. "Want to play with me while you're waiting?" Mary nodded happily. "Okay!"

The jar was now at exactly 168. Mary's wishes had changed since the man died. It was no longer, "I wish I was happy." They varied from day to day, but her most common were, _"I wish Guertena would come back."_ and _"I wish I could go outside."_ She wrote in her journal daily, though lately, her entries were becoming shorter and shorter. At 185 stars, her entries were simply, _"Won't anybody come soon?"_ over and over again, in messy, tear stained writing.

She watched through the paintings, her two playmates seemed to be getting along. Getting along a bit too well for her tastes. She told her dollies to introduce themsleves so he wouldn't forget who he was here for. The man failed at the treasure hunt. Mary didn't care though. At least he was friends with her dollies now! But suddenly, the other girl slapped him. Such disrespect wouldn't be tolerated in her world, Mary would make sure of it.

Mary waited. She waited until finally, as she put in her last wish, as the jar was full now, they came in through the door. Mary was delighted! She quickly put the cover on her jar, exclaiming. "You finally came, oh, I thought you'd never make it here! Did you have fun?" The man stared at her as if she was a monster. The little girl looked terrified as she hid behind him. "H-Hey, what's wrong?" Mary asked, confused. "We want to get out of here." he stated, gesturing towards the painting. Mary shook her head, her eyes pleading. "No no no, not yet, we haven't played tag yet!" The little girl shook her head, on the verge of tears. "I don't wanna play..."

Mary stared at them, anger pooling into her. "Why?!" The man shook his head. "We don't belong here. Come on, Ib." And they walked past her, heading towards the doorway. "No... No... NO!" Mary screamed, grabbing her palette knife she used to cut the paper, as she had no scissors. She charged at them, angry. "Why?! Why won't you play with me?!"

Blood. The little girl, apparently named 'Ib' fell to the ground, a shriek of terror leaving her lips before she went limp. "Play with me..." Mary said, eyes now on the man. "Ib!" the man yelled, paralyzed. He saw Mary charging at him, and moved to the side, running away. "Thats it, come on, play tag with me!" was Mary's call of anger mixed with sick delight.

Blood everywhere. She stabbed at him until there was a pool of it. In her rage, the jar had been smashed, and dozens of tiny stars littered the ground, covered with crimson red blood.

Her doll moved the sit beside her, stitched smile wide. "Did it work Mary? Are you happy?" Mary stared at the ground; the broken glass, the dead bodies, her precious wishes scattered across the ground.

She fell to her knees, crying. _**"No!" **_


End file.
